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New submitter patella.whack writes "A guilty plea for six counts of selling counterfeit media gets a defendant 15 years in Mississippi. An undercover reporter from the Attorney General's Intellectual Property Theft Task Force managed to buy a total of five copied movies and one music CD from the defendant, who had 10,500 pirated discs at home and two prior convictions: one for assaulting a police officer 17 years ago and one for CD piracy that got him a year under house arrest. Says the RIAA: '[This] highlights the fact that the individuals engaging in these activities are frequently serial criminals for whom IP theft is simply the most convenient and profitable way they could steal from others.' Frequently serial criminals? 15 years? I wonder how much of his sentence can be attributed to his priors rather than to other factors."

This kind of thing is ridiculous, and I'm not surprised the RIAA would say something so absurd and disgusting. But one has to wonder, wouldn't you shy away from selling pirated entertainment on physical media after your conviction and house arrest?

The kind of thing where a repeat, professional, career criminal (aka 'organized criminal') is awarded a tough sentence for manufacturing large amounts of illegal counterfit goods for resale aka establishing his own 'criminal enterprise' ?

What exactly is the problem here?

Yes, I agree that some aspects of copyright law are rediculous - but this case, no.

The problem is that it's completely non-violent white collar crime being treated as if it were a murder. There are some white collar crimes that can be considered to be in that ballpark, such as Bernie Madoff's giant Ponzi scheme. Of course, the scheme Madoff ran actually did lead to quite a few deaths. It seems very unlikely that the piracy scheme in this case did much more than cost the entertainment industry a relatively tiny amount of money.

Every story without direct video footage starts with trust. I was actually charged with assaulting a police officer. In the presence of 20-30 other cops. I'm just a shy, geeky, overweight, middle aged guy. I'm also extremely non-violent. The cop in question was much larger than me as well. Anyone who knows me knows that such an accusation is utterly ridiculous.

Some people have yet to realize what real cops are actually like. This is solely due to lack of contact with them. They will not hesitate to lie in court and to falsely accuse you of many things. None of the defense attorneys I consulted were at all surprised by my story. They see it all the time. The cops commonly do such things because they can. The system lets them get away with it. They are just grown up schoolyard bullies. Sociopaths with unlimited power and not even a hint of a conscience.

Just a bit of friendly advice for everyone: If a cop swears at you DO NOT swear back at them under any circumstances. It may seem fair, but the cop won't see it that way. You'll be lucky if you only end up in the hospital with broken bones. You may end up with brain damage. You may end up dead or in prison for many years based on false accusations.

No matter what you say or how much more plausible your version of events may seem or how incredibly stupid the cop is nearly every judge and many juries will believe the cop's ridiculous story just because he is a cop. Many defendents aren't willing to roll the dice and take deals. That's what I did. I could poke holes in some details of the cop's bullshit story and prove those holes 100%. Prove that he lied in some details, but I could not prove my innocence. I could not prove that I did not punch him. And I didn't trust a potential lily white jury with no exposure to real life cops to decide my fate. Like you, they don't want to believe that such things really happen. So they don't. Real cops are nothing like the way they are portrayed on TV or in films. Well maybe Bad Lieutenant.

Real cops are nothing like the way they are portrayed on TV or in films.

The cops portrayed in TV and films these days seem to violate the constitution a few times per episode but are still portrayed unquestioningly as the good guys. Since it's fiction, they also have ridiculously high closure rates on their cases. They also have a ridiculously high number of "ticking time bomb" situations where such things are portrayed as necessary and right. I would be fine with it as fiction, as long as people still maintain a realistic view of police in the real world, but too many people don't seem to be able to distinguish reality from fantasy.

No one said he was smart. Assault of a police officer takes real brains...

Actually, it doesn't take much to be charged with assault of a police officer. Say you're being arrested and they twirl you around to put the cuffs on you and you stumble into one of them. You've now committed assault if the officer feels like charging you with it.

Want to take it to court? It will be you, a scumbag defendant, vs. that upstanding officer and defender of the public in his sharp uniform, with a jury that's been purged of anyone capable of critical thought.

Easier sentence for murder? You realize that Federal punishment for second-degree murder is mandatory life imprisonment and first-degree is the death penalty or life imprisonment? Exaggerate much?

Federal penalties for murder seldom apply unless you cross a state line to commit same, or kill a mailman, and not even then in most cases.Its a state charge, and many liberal states have you out on the street in less than 20 years, much less if their prisons are overcrowded.(Don't even get me started on time off fir good behavior).

New York, Albany EDU did a study(pdf-2006) [albany.edu] and found that 20 years (244 months) is the Average maximum sentence imposed by state courts in the US for Murder and Non-Negligent manslaughter.

Federal District courts in 2004 sentenced people [albany.edu] to an average maximum of 111.2 months.Post sentence guideline reform the federal average has increased to the state average, and then some. Figures for 2010 [albany.edu] show an average of 23 years handed down by federal district courts.

So I don't know where you get that mandatory Life death penalty nonsense.

I'm no fan of the *AA, but it sounds like the judge made the sentences run consecutively instead of concurrently for each count. I am sure the 10,500 copies ready for distribution had more than a little bit to do with that decision, as well as finding weapons in the posession of a felon (which the Feds might still prosecute, if the state turns over the evidence to the ATF - they could tack on another 5 years).

And only a true idiot spends years in jail for something, and keeps on doing it, anyway.

Actually, he should have gotten a job with one of the big banks. Goldman Sachs or such. Lighter sentence yet.
Rob a liquor store, get 20 years. Rob 20,000 people of $200,000 in life savings, the feds don't have a case to pursue.

Actually, he should have gotten a job with one of the big banks. Goldman Sachs or such. Lighter sentence yet.

Or just started a multi-national corporation like Apple or Google or Facebook, all of which utilize our society, air-waves, economy, Internet-backbones, etc. yet only pay a tiny fraction of their income taxes.

Rob a liquor store, get 20 years. Rob 20,000 people of $200,000 in life savings, the feds don't have a case to pursue.

Or just started a multi-national corporation like Apple or Google or Facebook, all of which utilize our society, air-waves, economy, Internet-backbones, etc. yet only pay a tiny fraction of their income taxes.

Good thing for Apple, Google, Facebook, et al that utilizing all those things and paying the taxes that they do (or don't depending on your POV) isn't illegal.

I gotta say that if you already were busted once for selling pirate media you should be aware they're out to get you. I think it's harsh but I can't feel sorry for him. It's not like he was using it for his own viewing, he was selling it for income.

Three strikes laws should be thrown out as unconstitutional. If you've done your time for the first two strikes, then you've done your time. Any additional punishment for those crimes falls afoul of double jeopardy.

While I agree that three strike laws shouldn't be, I don't think it runs afoul of double jeopardy and think that it, at most, would violate 'cruel and unusual'. Of course, unusual would be covered by it being state law 'impartially' applied, and 'cruel' is up to the justices of the supreme courts, state and federal.

You see, double jeopardy is that you can't be tried twice for the [i]same[/i] crime, it doesn't mean that your past crimes can't be used to establish a pattern of behavior when sentencing for a new crime that you have duly been convicted of.

Even without 3 strike laws, it has been traditionally been a judge's option to increase sentence for a repeat offender. 3 strikes, depending on the state, varies between allowing a judge to increase sentence even more to mandating high minimum sentences. The former is good when you get somebody who's obviously 'criminal scum' that's best kept behind bars even if the individual things he's been caught on are minimal. The latter is a tragedy when you get somebody dumb who does something like stealing a loaf of bread for the 3rd offense, or is still a drug/gambling addict*.

*Medical condition in my view. It's certainly a more effective way to treat the problem.

In California, we just voted to get rid of mandatory three-strikes sentencing [slate.com] for non-violent, non-serious offenders. I'm not uncomfortable to giving someone life for, say, their third rape sentence. I'm extremely happy that we collectively decided to no longer give someone life for shoplifting a loaf of bread.

"Prison sentences for rape are not uniform. A study made by the U.S. Department of Justice of prison releases in 1992, involving about 80 percent of the prison population, found that the average sentence for convicted rapists was 11.8 years, while the actual time served was 5.4 years. This follows the typical pattern for violent crimes in the US, where those convicted typically serve no more than half of their sentence.[11]"

Prison sentences for rape are not uniform. A study made by the U.S. Department of Justice of prison releases in 1992, involving about 80 percent of the prison population, found that the average sentence for convicted rapists was 11.8 years, while the actual time served was 5.4 years. This follows the typical pattern for violent crimes in the US, where those convicted typically serve no more than half of their sentence.

Agreed but getting 15 years for selling pirated material is retarded.....in fact getting any jail time is just wrong. Confiscate all his shit and smack him with a big fine. Will it stop him doing it, probably not but there have to be better uses for that prison cell.

As the above post points out this is more time then the average rape sentence.... and no matter how you play it piracy (not the type on the high seas) is NOT worse then rape. Or for that matter a bunch of other violent crimes which have sente

Say that this person has sold for a grand total of $100,000.- (street value) merchandise. For that he'll go to prison for 15 years.

Now look at how much money the mafiaa has withheld and continues to withhold from those who actually create the product they peddle. Are they going to prison as well? If not, why not? If you want to talk about copyright violation on industrial scale I'd say it does not get bigger than what the mafiaa does.

This is my first article sumbission to/.
Do editors regularly change headlines? There is a huge difference in meaning between the edited headline and the initial wording, IMO.
Original wording: "In Mississippi: 15 Year Jail Sentence for Movie and Music Copyright Infringement"

I RTFA this morning. This isn't Joe Blow getting a few movies from the pirate bay, this is a counterfeiter. Copyright infringement isn't theft, but I'd say this is, as the criminal is getting the money that should have gone to the movies' producers.

Also, the guy was imprisoned for the very same offence before, as well as going to prison for some violent crimes.

This isn't Joe Nerd getting fifteen years for sharing movies, it's Joe Beentoprison making money off of someone else's work.

All that considered the punishment is still overly severe. 15 years for non-violently misappropriating a couple thousand dollars? The amount that this person "stole" wouldn't even pay for one year of his imprisonment.

A couple thousand dollars? When someone has industrial-grade copying equipment and over 10,000 discs of illicitly copied material that is clearly intended to be sold, I seriously doubt there were only a few thousand dollars at stake. It's one thing to share a few songs online. It's something else entirely to sell them for enough profit that you can making a living off of the illegal proceeds.

10k discs, if we figure $3/pop*, that's $30k worth of pirated materials, or enough for 'grand theft auto' of a new vehicle. And that was his active stock. Most stores turn that over in, what, about a month? Of course, that would be approximately 60 discs/hour if he was running a retail store, so I figure he was producing/distributing the stuff to street venders who'd actually sell to the public(and rat him out when they're busted for selling forged discs). Figure $1/profit a disc for him - that's $120k

I'm sorry, but I don't understand why this would be theft while the usual (somebody/site sharing movies for free) would not.

The usual arguments for why that isn't theft are, among other:1. The product wasn't stolen, they still have it and can do with it what they want - including sell it.2. People who download it wouldn't have bought it anyway or at least not at that price, or at that venue, etc. etc.

Those same arguments still apply here. The only difference is that the guy made money from doing so.

So, burn all your CD's and DVDs, go get a life and forget worrying about this mafia outfit entirely. Then they'll have to do like the cops do - "find" some coke or pot they dropped on your property when it turns out you're not actually guilty. Step it up a notch.

I wonder how much of his sentence can be attributed to his priors rather than to other factors.

It's Mississippi. You should be wondering how much of this can be attributed to the cop or the prosecutor suddenly happening upon some money innocently left behind by an RIAA lawyer at one of their meetings. Either of them bought a new boat lately?

Because no one would "plead guilty" in exchange for a 15 year sentence. That's not much of a plea bargain. The article mentioned seizures of weapons as well. Missouri has some form of "three strikes" law, which uses the phrase "prior and persistent offender." One wonders whether this sentence was lighter than what might have resulted had he been charged for gun possession.

Something does not add up in the summary because no one would "plead guilty" in exchange for a 15 year sentence. That's not much of a plea bargain.

Actually it does.

Every person convicted in this state of a felony who shall have been convicted twice previously of any felony or federal crime upon charges separately brought and arising out of separate incidents at different times and who shall have been sentenced to and served separate terms of one (1) year or more in any state and/or federal penal institution, whether in this state or elsewhere, and where any one (1) of such felonies shall have been a crime of violence shall be sentenced to life imprisonment, and such sentence shall not be reduced or suspended nor shall such person be eligible for parole or probation.

Assaulting a police officer 17 years ago counts as violent, the year in house arrest was his second strike, this is his third strike so if it went to trial he'd go away for life with no chance of release. Compared to that 15 years is a "good" deal.

Everybody must do their part to eradicate criminal scum like this by simply torrenting their pirated media, rather than propping up the repulsive trade in physical copies sold at retail... The Swarm Needs You to fight piracy today!

It depends which Michael Jackson album we're talking about. Thriller is only worthy of a five year sentence. Bad is definitely worth at least 10 years and anyone that sells an unsuspecting buyer History would get off easy with 15 years.

We are never going to be able to bust every pirate, or even enough pirates to serve as a deterrent.

What we're doing instead is trying to really crucify the ones we catch, as a warning to others. That isn't working because the chance of getting caught is so low.

Instead, we should view media as a market which had a time period in which to be profitable. Before digital copying was easy, media had a monopoly on the means of its delivery and so was able to make profit.

CD piracy conviction. If that had been a year in prison instead he'd be in for life without the possibility of parole, since combined with the 5 year assault conviction he'd hit Mississippi's version of three strikes: http://www.mscode.com/free/statutes/99/019/0083.htm [mscode.com]

At the Federal level, manslaughter is fines and/or up to 10 years. Rape is fines up to life imprisonment. First-degree murder is death penalty or life imprisonment and second-degree murder is life imprisonment.

Actually, cops protect society, mostly from people like you.The penalties for assaulting them should be very severe.

No, actually cops protect the people who have money and power.

The have-nots are ignored by the police as much and as often as possible.

If you think the cops are on the side of the common man you are either naive,or an idiot, or maybe you are a cop yourself and engaged in self-delusion.

Plenty of cops are assholes. I've met more than a few. The job attracts people whohave a desire to bully, and the decent people are not attracted to the job, so the veryjob itself self-selects for assholes. And fuck you if you don't agree with me, I could care lesswhat some cop-loving twat "thinks".

What about all the cops not caught on video abusing their authority, not lying about the facts, not comittig crimes, etc.?

Funny you should phrase it that way. Whether it was caught on video or not still makes it a crime, or at least a perversion of the justice system. That it's not provable only means that it cannot be proven and said offender cannot be found guilty in a court of law, not that it didn't occur or that it wasn't a perversion of justice.

all of my family is in law enforcement, so i tend to agree with you. not saying there are not bad cops, i have just not met one.

What about all those cops captured on video abusing their authority, lying about the facts, committing crimes, etc.?

This comes under "Officers of the law, being from time to time exempt from statutes of the law, must be held to a higher standard than those who are under the law."

On the other side of the argument:

There are as of 2006, 683,396 full time state, city, university and college, metropolitan and non-metropolitan county, and other law enforcement officers in the United States. There are approx. 120,000 full time law enforcement personnel working for the federal government adding up to a total number of 800,000 law enforcement personnel in the U.S.

So, assuming that number is representative, we have approximately 0.8% of all police officers cited in misconduct cases per year. Note that this is *cited* meaning a complaint has been *lodged*. This means it includes unfounded complaints and misses unreported complaints. It also means that 99.2% of police officers are likely operating within their mandate, which means it's easily likely that someone who hangs out with a bunch of cops will never have met one of the "bad" ones.

That said, being held to a higher standard and actually *being* a higher standard of human being are not the same thing. Due to the stressful type of job policing is and the personality type that gravitates toward the job, there's likely a statistically significant level of abuse that would go unnoticed in most parts of society, but is highly visible and unacceptable here.

Those reports are only cases that were reported in newspapers. Lots of cases don't get into the newspapers.

Back in the 1960s, newspapers had a taboo on stories about police abuse. That came up during demonstrations against the war in Vietnam, and counter-culture issues generally. I'd go to a non-violent demonstration, get beaten up by the cops, see other people get seriously injured, pick up the newspapers the next morning, and see a report on the demonstration written exclusively from quotes from the cops, with no mention of police violence. There was a newspaper called the East Village Other that used to print photographs of cops beating up demonstrators that the regular newspapers wouldn't print.

One reason for that was that the cops supplied reporters with news about crime, and the reporters didn't want to alienate their sources.

The cops used to beat up black people all the time. It was only when they started beating up privileged white kids that it became an issue.

The big change came in the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, where Mayor Daley decided that the First Amendment didn't apply to people who disagreed with him. The great thing was that a lot of the out-of-town reporters -- the same guys who had been ignoring police brutality up to then -- got their own asses kicked by the cops. It was in all the national newspapers, in Life magazine, on TV. It sort of broke the taboo.

But if you get beaten up by the cops, even if you file a complaint, and you call up a newspaper reporter to tell him about it, the chances of his doing a story about it are pretty low. A lot of these caught-on-video cases didn't make it into the newspapers until the video came out.

Here in New York City, there was lots of police misconduct during political demonstrations -- against the Iraq war, against the Republican Convention, and now Occupy Wall Street. Now a lot of it is caught on video. They even had a high-level office, Anthony Bolognia, get caught on video spraying protesters who were obeying all the laws.

And in my personal contact with cops on the street, I've found a lot of them to be rude, abusive bullies. I approach a cop in with a polite request, and his attitude to me is, "fuck off."

So you get points for looking up the data. Next step -- validating the data. I think the misconduct rate is much higher.

And how much government waste is responsible for this? The poverty line is at just over $11,000 for a single person. And yet it costs $25,000 to feed and keep someone in a tiny metal box for a year? The taxpayers shouldn't be outraged at another person in jail so much as for how much our government manages to waste in doing so.